SSC delivers vibrant and riotous 'Lion In Winter'
If you've never seen the fabled 1968 film, The Lion In Winter, well, that's a shame. But it means you'll have the pleasure of discovering the witty James Goldman play on which it's based for the first time in the vibrant new production from Shakespeare Santa Cruz. Still, even if you know the film and/or play well, can recite the dialogue like the Pledge of Allegiance, it only means you'll get an extra kick from the infusion of vitality this delicious SSC production brings to the material.

by Charles Wohlforth

THE RAIN HAD JUST STOPPED in the little eastern Kansas town of Osawatomie when thirty thousand people, gathered in an atmosphere not unlike that of a country fair, fell quiet. Their hero, former president Teddy Roosevelt, climbed atop a kitchen table and began to speak in a high, almost falsetto voice, orating amid cheering for ninety minutes. When finished, he had delivered the most controversial and influential address of his career, in which he described a radical new program that was both denounced and celebrated in newspapers across the country. The date was August 31, 1910.

The New Nationalism Speech, as it came to be known, emphasized conservation, as did most of Roosevelt’s speeches written by his friend Gifford Pinchot, who had been his conservation chief for the two terms of his presidency. But it also newly placed the “moral issue” and “patriotic duty” of conservation into the context of a racial conversation, as well as a much broadened concept of progressivism.

In appealing to the folks in Osawatomie, Roosevelt went well beyond the program he had pursued in office, proposing a powerful national government strong enough to address many of its citizens’ problems. In this new regime, government would be a general antidote to corporate power. Federal programs would control wages and hours, health, and corporate governance. The government would take over utilities and railroads if necessary to stop monopolies. Corporate political contributions would be limited and publicly reported. Most radically, this vastly empowered national government would transform America’s economy to reward only merit, using graduated estate and income taxes to pull down the fortunes of the very rich.

The states that originally ratified the Constitution had faced none of these problems and never consented to a national government strong enough to solve them, but once corporations could span the nation—and Roosevelt viewed corporate combination as an inevitable consequence of the industrial age—then only a central authority even mightier than they could prevent a few rich men from controlling the country’s laws, natural resources, and workers’ lives. Corporations already did control much of that, and the workers weren’t going to stand for it. Nineteenth-century laws essentially gave away natural resources to the first to find them, allowing the rich to privatize immense new wealth in oil, coal, minerals, and hydropower at close to zero cost. Business interests exploited workers with as little government interference, creating grim servitude in western mining towns that would sometimes flash into violence.

Roosevelt’s New Nationalism offered federal power to manage the economy and tame the exploitation of people and resources. Instead of class conflict, all would join as equals in allegiance to a shared national identity stronger than the old links to community or state.

Americans had to learn nationalism—flag worship and the pledge of allegiance were promulgated in that era, too. The federal government at the time didn’t seem equal to many tasks. Back in 1889, when Gifford Pinchot was a young man exploring the idea of going into forestry, a recently retired secretary of agriculture, George Loring, told him forest management would never work in America because the country lacked “a centralized monarchial authority.”

Later that same year, Pinchot attended the Paris International Exposition, at the site of the brand new Eiffel Tower, where he felt deeply impressed and inspired by the immense forestry exhibit. The great world’s fairs were society’s premier tool for acculturating its people to the new, as Robert W. Rydell reports in his fascinating book All the World’s a Fair. Not only did they promote amazing technology, they also demonstrated the new relationships among people that the machines brought about, including affiliation with the symbols of national rather than community identity—monuments, mass communication and transportation, mass-produced goods, and celebrity. Contemporaries believed the fairs reduced class strife and political violence. In the United States, each fair attracted a substantial fraction of the entire population, and those who couldn’t attend read saturation coverage in the press. At the world’s fairs, civic leaders produced self-contained models of a hoped-for future in order to mold ideal citizens to live in it.

The utopia exhibited at the expositions held on American soil included and eventually drew a connection between the richness of the country’s natural resources and the superiority of its dominant race. The first American world’s fair, held in Philadelphia in 1876 to commemorate the nation’s centennial, presented Native Americans as hideous brutes fit for extinction—a message justifying that year’s warfare against the indigenous people of the Great Plains, including the Battle of the Little Bighorn. At the New Orleans world’s fair in 1885, comparative displays of skulls showed how Indians, Eskimos, and other “lower” races resembled criminals or animals. The enormous fair in Chicago in 1893 displayed living American Indians and other indigenous people on a honky-tonk midway where they were continuously jeered and ridiculed. Anthropologists arranged the races along the walk in a supposedly evolutionary progression from the lowest to the best, at which point viewers emerged from the noise and chaos of the carnival into the quiet of a pristine new city, built for the purpose on an immense scale and painted pure white. The symbolism conveyed an idea of evolutionary ethics wherein white Americans could grow through racial purification from an animalistic, selfish nature to become higher, more cooperative beings.

These ideas had been developed at Ivy League and other universities, at museums of natural history and anthropology in New York and Washington, in learned societies and in scientific literature. When subsequent world’s fairs focused on the West, the link between natural resources, morality, and racism was drawn ever more explicitly. The great Louisiana Purchase Exposition in Saint Louis came in 1904, a critical time for the West as Roosevelt’s conservation program hit its stride. Westerners sent pieces of the landscape to demonstrate its value: for example, from California part of the trunk of a giant sequoia, and from Alaska, ancestral totem poles removed from coastal villages. They sent live people, too. The mastermind of the fair’s anthropology department promised to “represent human progress from the dark prime to the highest enlightenment, from savagery to civic organization, from egoism to altruism. . . . The method will be to use living peoples in their accustomed avocations as our great object lesson.”

Authorities shipped to St. Louis indigenous people from Alaska and the Philippines, pygmies from Africa and giants from Patagonia, and many famous Native Americans, as well; my grandmother, age seven, encountered Geronimo there, a pathetic figure in an Apache chief’s regalia displayed on a platform. Given ten cents by her mother, she paid him for his autograph, which he painfully scratched in block letters on an index card, whereupon Geronimo took her dime to another booth for a piece of apple pie. Roosevelt and his daughter Alice (whom my grandmother also met at the fair) toured approvingly, the president having sent word ahead via William Howard Taft, then secretary of war, to have the Filipino savages dressed in properly modest clothing (they wore bright silk trousers until the fair’s Board of 
Lady Managers certified loincloths as acceptable and more in keeping with the exhibit’s authenticity). Native people camped out for display according to a plan designed to show the relationship of their racial types. Scientists extensively measured and tested these people while exhibiting them—their physical size, senses, abilities, intelligence—all of which, apparently, proved the superiority of whites. Some human specimens who died were sent for dissection; the brains of three Filipinos were collected by the Smithsonian.

By the time of the San Francisco fair in 1915, the racists had shifted focus from justifying white conquest over other races to efficiently using the natural resources the dominant culture had thereby obtained. As gardeners and foresters would thin weak genetic strains and nurture the strong, so eugenic campaigners called for planned racial improvement through sterilization of people deemed inferior, beginning with anyone with a disability, and encouraged breeding by the racially superior. In War Against the Weak, Edwin Black describes how the U.S. Department of Agriculture encouraged the formation of an American Breeding Association that included research on humans, with funding and support from the Carnegie Institution, the Harriman railroad fortune, and the founders of the Kellogg cereal company, among others. The former president of Stanford University convened the Second National Conference on Race Betterment at the San Francisco fair, and the Race Betterment Foundation mounted an exhibit, with pictures of its illustrious supporters, including Harvard University president Charles Eliot and Gifford Pinchot.

Pinchot had entered the eugenics movement during the Roosevelt administration, joining several of the president’s other friends. He solicited contributions from scientists and social activists advocating eugenics for a three-volume National Conservation Commission report to the president at the end of his term in 1909. Roosevelt transmitted the report to Congress with the statement that it was “one of the most fundamentally important documents ever laid before the American people.”

The report’s volume on “National Vitality, Its Waste and Conservation,” by a friend of Pinchot’s, Yale economist Irving Fisher, reads like a manifesto of the progressive political movement that Roosevelt sought to lead, and its words were echoed in the New Nationalism speech the following year. Ten multifaceted recommendations called for a national administration of public health; an end to air and water pollution; food and restaurant inspection; worker safety and child labor regulation; working hour restrictions; health and safety inspection of prisons, asylums, factories, and schools; antidrug and -alcohol laws; safe drinking water; enforcement of antispitting laws; improved sewage and garbage removal; pest control; building safety inspection; school nurses and health instruction; universal athletic training; healthful changes in clothing, architecture, ventilation, food preparation, and sexual hygiene; elimination of poverty, vice, and crime. And then, recommendation ten: “eugenics, or hygiene for future generations,” with forced sterilization or marriage prohibition for people with epilepsy or mental disabilities, and for criminals, the poor, and “degenerates generally.” The report called for the creation of a new social norm benefiting eugenically favored marriages, making “degenerate” marriages as taboo as incest. “The problem of the conservation of our natural resources is therefore not a series of independent problems, but a coherent, all-embracing whole,” it concluded. “If our nation cares to make any provision for its grandchildren and its grandchildren’s grandchildren, this provision must include conservation in all its branches—but above all, the conservation of the racial stock itself.”

More than a dozen legislatures passed eugenic laws over the next ten years, which, by 1970, had authorized forced sterilization of sixty-four thousand Americans with mental illnesses, epilepsy, disabilities, or criminal records, or who were simply poor. At least thirty states passed laws forbidding marriage of eugenically unfit men and women and twenty-eight outlawed interracial marriages, including six that put antimiscegenation in their constitutions. Those marriage laws stood until 1967, when a Virginia couple, Richard and Mildred Loving, validated their marriage before the U.S. Supreme Court—after a county sheriff had burst into their bedroom with a flashlight and arrested them, despite a District of Columbia marriage certificate hanging on the wall. Four states also prohibited sexual relations between Native Americans and whites.

Roosevelt was worried about the loss of a special American quality of strength and ingenuity that supposedly had evolved among whites on the frontier. As eastern European and Jewish immigrants flooded into the country with their big families, and with the birthrates of white Protestant Americans declining, he warned of impending “race suicide.” Roosevelt’s ideal American family lived on a farm with six white children—and less procreation represented a failure of patriotism and a moral flaw, a rejection of the basic responsibilities instilled in men and women by nature.  He dispatched Pinchot to study the problem with the Country Life Commission. Continuing that work, the American Eugenics Society, one of various such organizations to which Pinchot belonged, sponsored hundreds of Fitter Family contests at rural fairs, wherein couples would take intelligence and physical tests and submit to medical exams to become certified as worthy for breeding.

Roosevelt wrote, “I wish very much that the wrong people could be prevented entirely from breeding; and when the evil nature of these people is sufficiently flagrant, this should be done. Criminals should be sterilized, and feebleminded persons forbidden to leave offspring behind them. But as yet there is no way possible to devise which could prevent all undesirable people from breeding. The emphasis should be laid on getting desirable people to breed.”

HOW DO WE MAKE SENSE of this behavior? How could progressives who worked for conservation, national health insurance, and the rights of workers adopt an ideology of hatred against the weak?

In some ways, the inconsistencies reflect the diversity of a temporary political coalition. A lot of money and establishment power backed the eugenics supporters—a list that included John Kellogg, Henry Ford, John D. Rockefeller Jr., Andrew Carnegie, George Eastman, Woodrow Wilson, Herbert Hoover, George Bernard Shaw, H. G. Wells, Alexander Graham Bell, and many eminent anthropologists, psychologists, and biologists, including the founder of the movement, Francis Galton, who was Charles Darwin’s cousin. Joining with them was smart politics. Roosevelt wanted women to stay home with large families; Margaret Sanger, the mother of Planned Parenthood, wanted smaller families and gender equality—but both were involved with the eugenics movement. A desire for power is hardly an excuse, however, especially for powerful opinion leaders such as Roosevelt and Pinchot, who constantly invoked moral authority for their policies.

Another excuse: Roosevelt and Pinchot believed in science and expertise, and eugenics seemed scientific. The idea that the races are fundamentally different came from the creator of taxonomy himself, Carl Linnaeus, who in 1735 categorized human beings as white, black, red, yellow, or wild (Homo sapiens ferus). In the 1850s, before the rise of eugenics, according to Sven Lindqvist in his book “Exterminate All the Brutes,” some European scientists declared the “inferior races” naturally destined for extinction, and reasoned that helping that process along could only be moral. While the true superiority of European colonial armies lay in their weaponry, not their genes or culture, this ideology promoted genocidal slaughter of people in Africa, South America, the South Pacific, and Asia, and the theft of land from the victims. Charles Darwin witnessed this kind of warfare in South America and abhorred it, but nonetheless toyed with the idea of evolutionary differences between races. Darwin’s followers extended his theories to identify racial heredity as the cause of crime and immorality, and thus to justify genocide as a way of cleansing the gene pool of vice.

The flaws in these theories were evident in Roosevelt’s day. The eugenicists’ own work supporting genetic claims of racial differences was flimsy and unsubstantiated. G. K. Chesterton, Clarence Darrow, H. L. Mencken, and other less famous writers grasped the errors and pointed them out. Pinchot’s own conservation commission report, in the volume written by Fisher, contained statements an intelligent person should have seen through, such as those that blamed the demise of American Indians and Hawaiian Islanders on their own sexual immorality—rather than the government-sanctioned violence and theft of land justified by the racists’ own theories.

Madison Grant, the founder of the Bronx Zoo and a groundbreaking conservationist, wrote one of the most influential eugenics books, The Passing of the Great Race, which would be laughable if it weren’t so revolting. In pseudoscientific language, Grant denies the very right to life of members of other races, using as evidence nothing more than his own prejudiced stereotypes. In Grant’s final analysis, white Americans were not racist enough: “They lack the instinct of self-preservation in a racial sense. Unless such an instinct develops their race will perish, as do all organisms which disregard this primary law of nature.”

This goal of creating a more racist society informed much of the cultural work of the institutions led by Roosevelt and Pinchot’s peers—not only the world’s fairs but the American Museum of Natural History, the Smithsonian, and others. Grant was an influential friend to the president and phrases and ideas from his writing crept into Roosevelt’s. Oddly, the improvement of the dominant race meshed with the New Nationalism’s utopia of a merit-based society. Without money or class to distinguish them, the sexual attraction between men and women would be guided only by natural selection. Those unbiased choices would automatically sort mates by the proper eugenic criteria, matching the best to the best—white to white, intelligent to intelligent, and so on. That this absurd notion was considered a basis for social policy reveals the extent of the collectivism envisioned in Pinchot’s brave new world.

The program Roosevelt advanced in his New Nationalism speech called for a stronger sense of national affiliation than ever before, a feeling of membership powerful enough to allow the federal government to regulate daily life, to curtail use of resources in favor of the future, and to redistribute income and inheritance to create economic equality. He asked for cooperation on a grand scale. In theory, the idea makes sense that racism could glue together a national identity capable of incorporating the rest of progressivism. To buttress a group’s willingness to cooperate, enhance the members’ sense of belonging and their hostility toward nonmembers—teach them that they’re special, superior, and under threat. Bind together an American majority by equating its white racial dominance with Americanism.

I’m not saying Pinchot or Roosevelt schemed dishonestly to increase American racism. Roosevelt’s philosophy could be inconsistent—he also spoke eloquently of the ability of nationalism to transcend race. The evidence suggests that Pinchot and Roosevelt rode along with the eugenicists rather than led their movement. But eugenic ideas slid frictionlessly into Pinchot’s worldview, a rigidly moralistic construct of conservation, efficiency, and merit. And that construct of ideas worked politically, for a while.

Eugenics thrived in America until discredited by the revelation of the Nazi death camps it had helped inspire. Grant’s book particularly incited Hitler, who wrote him a fan letter calling it his “Bible” before inscribing its hatred upon the flesh of millions of people.  (The same Nazi officials who slaughtered human beings in death camps also passed some of the world’s most advanced legislation to protect the environment and endangered species, even outlawing cruelty to animals, including the sort of medical experimentation they performed on their human victims.) World War II’s horrors saved our country from going farther down the eugenic path, but Roosevelt died before that happened, and Pinchot’s life carried him in a new direction. By the 1930s Pinchot had become a champion of the poor and admirer of indigenous cultures, and he spoke out early against German anti-Semitism.

But words live on without their authors. The concepts of eugenics are far from dead today, as a quick Internet search will reveal. There’s a hangover for conservation, too. The American environmental movement remains predominantly white and middle class, detached from minorities, immigrants, and the poor along the same lines of class and color that existed a century ago. We’re liberal and say the right things, but in the 1980s and ’90s, mainstream environmental organizations debated opposition to immigration, using arguments that differed in little but terminology from those eugenicists would have used. More broadly, our political language for protecting the environment is about conflict between forces of good and evil, the fear of annihilation, and the exaltation of purity. It’s the language of war, with dark undertones of racism we’ve inherited but no longer recognize.

Garrett Hardin’s 1968 paper “The Tragedy of the Commons,” describing the grim fate faced by unmanaged natural resources such as open-access fisheries, influenced a generation of environmental thinking with its perspective that only a powerful, coercive state could save greedy people from themselves. But Hardin’s real concern was the doomsday prediction of Third World population growth (a prediction that has proven overblown and simplistic). In the 1970s he opposed humanitarian aid to poor countries, hoping to stop their population increases through starvation and disease, and opposed immigration to preserve America as an island of wealth and environmental quality. Hardin believed compassion was a weakness that was bound to be eliminated by natural selection.

In the 1980s, Hardin’s writings helped form an anti-immigration branch of the environmental movement, which shared many members with organizations that advocated for laws requiring the use of English only. Enough environmentalists shared this point of view to bring about a highly publicized national vote by members of the Sierra Club to oppose immigration in 1998. The proposal failed, but the existence of the debate suggests the durability of the links between racism, nationalism, and conservation. The connections don’t by themselves undercut calls for conservation or implicate anyone as prejudiced simply for wanting to protect nature. But they do illuminate the ethical hazards that come with the kind of power Roosevelt sought to accomplish his goals. Without justice and equality, conservation can become, rather than an intrinsic good, a part of a greater evil.

IT WAS IN AN IMPROBABLE PLACE that I first learned about these troubling connections. I was attending a cultural heritage week in a tiny Alaska Native village in Prince William Sound doing research for my book The Fate of Nature. In a garage, a carver and counselor from the village of Port Graham, Jim Miller, was teaching teens to work with wood, leaning over his knife in a folding metal chair while chatting about the meaning of their Chugach culture.

Miller brought up the Nazis in one of our first conversations. He didn’t distinguish between Nazi genocide and the genocide against Native Americans. In the eugenicists’ world, Jews and Eskimos each were merely a lower rung—writing in 1915, Henry Fairfield Osborn, an influential president of the American Museum of Natural History, used the supposed impossibility of educating Eskimos as a basis of his scientific argument that northern Europeans represented a higher step in evolution. Jim struggles against this ideology every time he consults photographs of traditional art to inform his carving; anthropologists stripped the region of the originals a century ago and took them to big city museums. Jim also encounters this ideology in his counseling practice, with men and women who have internalized the lessons of inferiority and carry on the oppression against themselves, through depression, self-destructive anger, and alcohol abuse. Miller believes community healing depends on reclaiming personal value.

The racists remain his adversary every day, even in the village clinic where Jim works and where we later talked about eugenics. “We think that’s history,” he said, “but what’s the trickle-down? In this building there is very free and easy access to birth control. Any type of birth control you can imagine, and if you still find yourself pregnant, there is free abortion. There’s no polite way to say it—to cut down on breeding. It’s not just accessible, it’s promoted. Kill your baby. And when you talk about values changing, when you no longer see your children as a blessing, that is some really bad stuff.”

I felt uncomfortable. I support free birth control and legal abortion. I had to stop and think. It’s true the eugenicists debated how to promote family planning among the inferior but not the dominant races. It’s true free family planning services often focus on poor and minority communities. Historians have documented—as neither Jim nor I then knew—that some of today’s major organizations for population control grew directly from the eugenics movement, like branches on a family tree. As Jonathan Peter Spiro points out in his chilling book Defending the Master Race, “the organizers of Planned Parenthood, the Population Reference Bureau, and the Population Association of America were all former eugenicists. Similarly, the first director of the Population Council (the organization funded by John D. Rockefeller III to promote family planning in the Third World) was eugenicist Frederick Osborn.”

Good motives inspired this population-control work—to save nature and improve human existence.  But the eugenicists had precisely the same motives. I wouldn’t charge family planning advocates with racism, but I’m not a victim of genocide. Victims shouldn’t have to analyze the motives of their oppressors. Once our scientists and philanthropists unleashed this monstrous hatred, it lived and transmuted uncontrolled, deforming society itself, and now, somehow, the descendants of slaves and displaced Indians are partly responsible for our redemption—by forgiving us and by loving themselves.

Many Alaska Natives remain hostile to environmentalists, despite often sharing their goals. Some environmentalists’ elitism, purism, and good-versus-evil worldviews still reflect the attitudes of their intellectual ancestors. Norms live in the culture like genes, manifesting themselves unexpectedly, the way a child’s big ears appear from an ancestor of whom no picture or name remains. We’ve forgotten the fathers of eugenics, but not their moral tone, as pure knights of conservation fighting the corrupt and degenerate wasters of nature.

Roosevelt’s New Nationalism speech helped introduce that rhetoric, with language that has not lost its inspirational ring:

Of all the questions which can come before this nation, short of the actual preservation of its existence in a great war, there is none which compares in importance with the great central task of leaving this land even a better land for our descendants than it is for us, and training them into a better race to inhabit the land and pass it on. Conservation is a great moral issue, for it involves the patriotic duty of insuring the safety and continuance of the nation.

But the politics of division can’t help the Earth now. Nature is endangered by threats that come from no specific villain or location. The oceans grow warmer and more acidic, marine mammals are contaminated, dead zones spread, plastic debris flips from wave tops to beaches and into the guts of birds. No one is innocent.

Categories won’t help us—nation, race, good, and evil—for they have little to do with humanity’s need to fit within a global ecological niche. Power won’t help us either. Power itself is a good deal of the problem, as coercion divides the people who must ultimately work together. Besides, the powerful have never instigated the kind of social transformation we now require. The solution has to come up from the people, through persuasion, enlightenment, and the creation of new norms, until the powerful are swept irresistibly along in the new social reality. This is a better job for the weak, who often have more at stake in the loss of nature, a closer relationship to its gifts, and a greater capacity to recognize when a certain level of material wealth is enough.

Understanding the history of racism in the conservation movement is important, not to assign blame, but to diagnose our unhealthy relationships with each other and with nature, learn from our mistakes, and begin cooperating in the ways that we must in order to reverse our destruction of the Earth’s ecosystems. 

Vacaville's City Council meeting tonight will open with the pledge of allegiance as it has traditionally done for many years, but what follows will be a first for City Hall.

Mililani/Waipio/Melemanu Neighborhood Board Minutes of regular meeting, Wednesday, JUNE 23, 2010 Mililani Recreation Center III Call to order: Chair Dick Poirier called the meeting to order at 7:38 p.m., with a quorum of 16 members present; and led those present in the pledge of allegiance. Note: This 23 member Board requires 12 members for a quorum and to take official Board actions. Members present: Danielle Bass, William “Bill” Bass, Ann Freed, Shannon Garan, Keith Hamada, Dennis Imamura, Barbara Pua Iuli (arrived at 7:44 p.m.), Josie Kaanehe, Karen Loomis, Joy Marshall, William Maglinti, Jr., Rodney Park, Dick Poirier, Charlie Remington (arrived at 8:26 p.m.), Mary Segura, Carole Siegel, Douglas Thomas, and Shareef Wang Members absent: Shayne Chung, Mary B. Segura, Tony Solis, Resa Tsuneyoshi, Jessie Weinberger, and Alvin Wong. Vacancies – None. Guests: Senator Norman Sakamoto, Will Kane (Mililani Town Association), Lt. Gregory Osbun (Honolulu Police Department, District 2 – Wahiawa), Lori Hoo (HECO), Danielle Bass (Office of Representative Ryan Yamane), Representative Marilyn Lee, Major Richard Onderko (U.S. Army/25th ID), Lori Kunioka (Office of Councilmember Nestor Garcia), Carleton Ching, Richard Mirikitani and Rodney Funakoshi (Castle and Cooke);Michael Dau, Tofi Mika, Jr. (Office of the Mayor), Senator Michelle Kidani, Andrew Keliikoa (Board of Water Supply), Ivonne Cardenos (Makakilo.com), Nola J. Frank (Neighborhood Commission Office staff). Approval of regular meeting minutes of May 26, 2010 – Hearing no objection, the regular meeting minutes of May 26, 2010 were ADOPTED with the following correction 16-0-0 (AYE: D. Bass, W. Bass, Freed, Garan, Hamada, Imamura, Kaanehe, Loomis, Marshall, Maglinti, Park, Poirier, Remington, Segura, Siegel, Thomas, Wang). -Page 3, Senator Michelle Kidani should read, National Science Olympia Tournament – Mililani High School students Chad Uyehara and Tru Dang took part in this tournament, which was held in Illinois and won 10th place. Board business concerns: Selection of Meeting Time, Date, Place and Time Limits – Loomis moved, seconded by Freed that the Board will meet on the fourth Wednesday of each month, 7:30 p.m., at Recreation Center III; with the exception of the fourth Wednesday in November the meeting will start at 7:00 p.m.. Presentations are limited to 10 minutes. The motion was UNANIMOUSLY ADOPTED, 16-0-0 (AYE: D. Bass, W. Bass, Freed, Garan, Hamada, Imamura, Kaanehe, Loomis, Maglinti, Marshall, Park, Poirier, Remington, Siegel, Thomas, Wang). Use of Publicity Funds, Video Taping of Board Meetings – Thomas moved, seconded by Remington to continue to videotaping the Board meetings; the chair shall approve the publicity funds was UNANIMOUSLY ADOPTED, 16-0-0 (AYE: D. Bass, W. Bass, Freed, Garan, Hamada, Imamura, Kaanehe, Loomis, Maglinti, Marshall, Park, Poirier, Remington, Siegel, Thomas, Wang). Board Recesses – Kaanehe moved, seconded by Loomis to recess in December and another month (s) deemed appropriate by the Chair, was UNANIMOUSLY ADOPTED, 16-0-0 (AYE: D. Bass, W. Bass, Freed, Garan, Hamada, Imamura, Kaanehe, Loomis, Maglinti, Marshall, Park, Poirier, Remington, Siegel, Thomas, Wang). Absenteeism – Thomas moved, seconded by Hamada authorizing the Neighborhood Assistant to email the Board member when accumulating two absences and the Neighborhood Commission Office to send the certified letter within seven days of the third absence, was UNANIMOUSLY ADOPTED, 16-0-0 (AYE: D. Bass, W. Bass, Freed, Garan, Hamada, Imamura, Kaanehe, Loomis, Maglinti, Marshall, Park, Poirier, Remington, Siegel, Thomas, Wang). 7:44 p.m. Iuli arrived; 17 members present. Community forum: Honolulu Fire Department (HFD) – A representative was not present. Honolulu Police Department (HPD) – Lt. Gregory Osbun reported the following: May 2010 Statistics – Included 14 unauthorized control of a propelled vehicle, 5 auto theft recoveries, 17 burglary, 5 (unauthorized entry into a motor vehicle, 5 graffiti, and 24 thefts. Questions, comments and concerns followed: Noise from Cars Boom Boxes – Regarding the persistent problem Mililani Town Center of cars circling the parking lot with loud boom boxes, all 911 calls are serviced no matter the nature of the call; everyone was encouraged to continue to call 911. All watch commanders will be informed of the noise from the boom boxes; the area will be monitored. Illegal Left Turns from Mililani Town Center to Lanikuhana Avenue during Restricted Posted Times (one sign on MTA property/other across the street on City property) – Follow up will be done if the signs (between Asagio’s and Ruby Tuesday) were put up by the city or at the request of the town center’s management. - Lori Kunioka, from Councilmember Nestor Garcia’s Office added that the signs were put up at the request of concerned residents and the City Department of Transportation Services (DTS) is requiring no left turn during restricted hours. Military – Major Richard Onderko reported the following: U.S. Army Garrison-Hawaii Change of Command – U.S. Garrison-Hawaii bid aloha to the garrison commander, Col. Matthew Margotta on June 14, 2010; and relinquished command to Col. Douglas Mulbury. Protecting Honouliuli Forest Reserve – The Army joined the Trust for Public Lands and other conservation partners in celebrating the permanent protection of the Honouliuli Preserve, a 3,592-acre forest on the eastern slope of the Waianae Mountains, home to 35 threatened and endangered species. Through the Army compatible Use Buffer Program (ACUB), the Army contributed more than $2.6 million toward the total $4.3 million purchase price. Past Hawaii ACUB successes include the preservation of Waimea, Valley, Moanalua Valley, and Pupukea-Paumalu. For more information visit www.aec.army.mil/usaec/acub/ or call the Garrison Public Affairs office at 656-3160. 4th of July Spectacular at Schofield Barracks – The public is invited to join military families in celebrating the Nation’s birthday with the Army’s 39th annual Fourth of July Spectacular on Sills Field. The day long celebration includes games, 5K Fun Run, Children’s 1-mile Fun Run, crafts, new products, bazaar, vintage military vehicles from the Hawaii Military Vehicle Preservation Association, and food. This year’s main stage headliner is Smash Mouth. The event is free and open to the public. Visitors will need to show a valid driver’s license, proof of insurance, and safety check. Carpooling or walking is encouraged. Backpacks, coolers and vehicles are subject to inspection. Visit www.mwrarmyhawaii.com for more information. Vehicle Decal Policy Change (Army Installations) – The Army is urging all drivers who live on, work on, or frequently use Army installations to register their vehicles at an Army Vehicle Registration Office, and display an official military decal on their vehicles, as part of an initiative to enhance installation safety and security. As of May 1, drivers without a current military decal (DD Form 2220) or Army pass are routed to the closest Visitor Control Center (VCC) for a temporary access pass. Motorcyclists must show completion of a valid DoD-approved safety course. For more information visit www.garrison.hawaii.mil/sites/traffic/traffic.asp; or contact the Schofield Barracks Provost Marshal’s Office at 655-9496, the Fort Shafter Provost Marshal’s Office at 438-2230, or USAG-Hi’s Directorate of Emergency Services at 656-5398. Army School Partnership Program (Joint Venture Education Forum (JVEF) School Partnership Program) – The Army is partnered with 51 Hawaii public schools through the School Partnership Program. The 2010 fiscal year funding, totaling $175,000, has been released and allocated to schools. To date there are 2,689 volunteer hours recorded for this schools year. For assistance contact the School Liaison Office at 655-9818. Board of Water Supply (BWS) – Andrew Keliikoa circulated the written report and summarized the following: Water Main Breaks – No water main breaks reported for the month of June 2010. General Water Announcements – Included information relating to water quality and summer conservation. Questions, comments and concerns followed: Waipio Acres District – This area is included in the monthly reports. BWS Crews Working in Waipio Acres – During valve maintenance or temporary repairs, the valves accumulate rust or dirt particles. Thus, when turning on a faucet the water is a little brownish. It is recommended to let the faucet run until the water is clear. Annual Water Report to Customers – The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) requires that the report is sent to customers. Furloughs – BWS control center and maintenance crews are exempt from two furlough days per month, but will have one furlough day. Provisions have been made to have operations personnel work full time. Honolulu Rail Transit Project (HRT) – Pat Lee gave the following update: Final Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) Released – The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) has released the Honolulu Transit Project’s Final Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for federal agency review and public distribution. U.S. Senator Daniel K. Inouye is committed to this project and will continue to assist at the federal level to fund the work and ensure its timely completion. Anticipated committed cost is $1.55 billion. Ridership and Future Traffic Reduction – The final EIS anticipates weekday rail ridership will be 116,000 passengers in 2030. Rail transit will reduce traffic delay by about 18% in 2030 compared to conditions if the rail system is not built. The project term estimates the rail system will take approximately 40,000 cars and trucks off the roads daily in 2030. Right-of-Ways – There will be 40 full property acquisitions and 159 partial acquisitions. All affected property owners have been notified by the City. Relocation and compensation at the fair market value will be provided to the affected property owners, businesses, and residents in compliance with the federal and state laws. Historic Properties Impact – Thirty-three historic properties will be impacted by the project. In some cases, the effect means the rail line will be visible from the property. Noise Impact and Vibrations – No severe noise impacts are expected. With mitigation measures, there will be no noise impacts; no vibration effects are anticipated. Final EIS Document – The final document can be viewed at All state public libraries, the City Municipal Library (585 S. King Street, City Hall Annex); City and County Department of Transportation Services (DTS) 650S. King Street, Fasi Municipal Building (third Floor; visit www.honolulutransit.org or call the hotline at 566-2299. Questions, comments and concerns followed: Ridership – Follow -up will be done if the number are based on one-way or round trip for the ridership and cars. Historic Properties – There are still hard issues that must be addressed; the State Department of Land and Natural Resources have yet to sign the documents.; and hopeful by the end of this year. Other Community Concerns – None. Public forum: Hawaii Clean Energy Initiative (HCEI) – Josh Strickler showed a power point presentation and highlighted the following: Alternatives to replace the high cost of oil because it has to be shipped in. Hawaii imports 50,000,000 gallons of oil. HCEI goals by 2030 of using 30% efficiency and 40% sun wind and other renewable energy. Questions, comments and concerns followed: Community Opposition – This proposed project took a long time because of community opposition. Renewable Energy – Carleton Ching, from Castle and Cooke introduced Rodney Funakoshi and Richard Mirikitani, and presented the following: Hawaiian Patriot Oil Tanker Spill – In 1977 this catastrophe affected 350 miles west of Honolulu. Renewable Energy for all Energy by 2030 – Federal, state, county and Hawaiian Electric Company momentum plan is to harness abundant natural resources. Sun Energy Solar Farm – This sun energy solar farm started service in December of 2008 is located on the island of Lanai with 10 acres of panels; and has a purchase power agreement. Mililani Renewable Energy Solar Park – Due to the increase in oil prices, an energy solar park is in the conceptual stage to utilize four lots at the top of Meheula Parkway. Existing in that area are two agricultural farms and sub farms. Some of the farmers will be relocated. The property would be diversified with farming on one side and solar on the other. Questions, comments and concerns followed: Cable Project from Lanai to Oahu – There is a 200 mega watt wind farm on Lanai and work is still being done on the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) cable to connect Lanai, Molokai, and Oahu. Cost would be approximately $800 million to $1 billion, but saving $200 million in the process; this is a benefit to buying alternative energy. - Timetable – Procurement is April 2010, cable laying 2013, completion 2014, and service 2015. - Fund Source – The cable system developer will finance up front, and the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) managing the consumer’s monthly payments. - Cable Transfer to Homes – When the power is sold to HECO and the 20 mega watt energy will be transferred by an inverter station to the converter to the homes. It is assumed that the removal of oil cost should stabilize the rates for this alternate energy. Promises cannot be made that electricity would cost less. Reports of public officials: Mayor Mufi Hannemann’s Representative – Tofi Mika, Jr. reported the following: Announcements: - Fireworks Permits – Fireworks permits purchases must be purchased on Thursday, July 1, 2010. - Rally of Champions Sunset on the Beach – This event is scheduled for Saturday, June 26, 2010 from 5:30 to 10:00 p.m. at the Queen’s Surf Beach in Waikiki. - Maili Beach Park Sunset on the Beach – This event will take place on July 3 and 4 at Maili Beach Park. Left Turn onto Lanikuhana Avenue outside of Ruby Tuesdays – The City Department of Transportation Services 9DTS) will conduct an investigation report the status at the end of August 2010. Kuahelani Avenue off of Kipapa Drive – DTS will investigate and report to the board by the end of August 2010. Mika explained that he took pictures of the area and it seems to be a loading zone. Overgrown Grass on the Medial Strip on Kipapa Drive – The grass has been cut. Questions, comments and concerns followed: White Lines on Kipapa – Mika explained that pictures were taken of the area which seems to be a loading zone. Wainihi Street – Iuli thanked the City for the guard rails. Paint Request to Paint Over Bus Stops and Graffiti – Paint is available however there is no storage place. Remington’s suggested the paint in five gallon cans so they can be stored at home. No answer has been received relative to the request that the room at the Mililani Transit center be used to store the paint and supplies. Congratulations – D. Bass noted that Tofi Mika, Jr. was mentioned in the Hawaii Business News. Councilmember Nestor Garcia – Lori Kunioka circulated Councilmember Garcia’s written reported and highlighted the following: Fiscal Year 2011 Budget – The Council approved the Fiscal Year 2011 Budget (July 1, 2010 to June 20, 2011) on June 9, 2010. New Councilmember – Former Police Chief Lee Donohue was selected from a list of six qualified applicants to fill the District 4 Council seat vacated by Charles Djou. Fireworks – Council will soon be HAVING discussion and deliberation on Bill 34, which amends Chapter 20, ROH (“Fire Code of the City and county of Honolulu”) to enact stricter standards for the regulation of fireworks. A meeting on this issue is scheduled for Thursday, July 1 at 1:00 p.m. (testimony is welcome). Senator Michelle Kidani – Senator Kidani distributed her written report and highlighted the following: Introduction – Introduced Senator Norman Sakamoto. Announcement – Since the legislative session is over, she is currently working as a research analyst for Councilmember Lee Donohue until the next session reconvenes. Vandalized Papaya Farm – The papaya farm received negative media reports. Monetary donation offers were received at her office, but the farm owner declined noting that he did have insurance. Fireworks Update – Senate Bill 1059 was signed into law on June 22, 2010, allowing counties to enact fireworks ordinances more stringent than state laws and establishes a task force to make recommendations on preventing illegal importation of fireworks into the state. City Council Bill 34 – Proposes to ban fireworks on Oahu is currently pending before the City Council. The bill passed first reading and has been referred to the Committee on Public Safety and Services. Congratulations to All Mililani Graduates – Four elementary schools in the district were visited congratulating fifth grade graduates. Nettle Caterpillar Pest Alert – On June 8, 2010 wasps were released by the Hawaii Department of Agriculture in hopes to biologically control the nettle caterpillars. Representative Marilyn Lee – Rep. Lee circulated her written report and highlighted the following: Solar Electricity – There will be more discussion regarding solar electricity sustainability and independence. Kukui Connection – On Sundays, at 4:00 p.m. on `Olelo Channel 54. Representative Ryan Yamane – Dani Bass handed out the written report and highlighted the following: Conferences – Rep. Yamane is attending two conferences and was unable to be in attendance tonight. Graduations – Attended most if not all area fifth grade graduations and presented graduates with McDonald’s ice cream certificates. Committee and other reports: Treasurer’s Report – Treasurer Carole Siegel reported expenditures in the Operating Account were $45.78 leaving a balance of $914.61. The report was filed. Oahu Arts Center (OAC) – Committee Chair Ann Freed reported that the property that was provided for the OAC has been designated for a mauka housing project. It is hopeful that Castle and Cooke would donate another property to the OAC. It was request to have a Castle and Cooke representative at the July meeting. Chair’s Report – The Board will recess in August. There were no other committee and other reports. New business: Resolution Regarding Vehicular Noise Pollution in the Aloha State – Freed moved, seconded by Siegel that the Mililani/Waipio/Melemanu Neighborhood Board No. 25 supports and encourages legislation to establish penalties for vehicular noise that can be heard five feet from the offending vehicle which will allow for a record of complaints to be established; which will allow law enforcement to act on substantiated complaints; and which will require noisy mufflers to be replaced or modified to comply with established restrictions. That such legislation should include a provision which would allow the counties to enact stricter regulations. Comments – a) To enforce and issue a citation the noise and must be above 60 decibels. b) Officers do not carry decibel readers, thus unenforceable. c) Drivers with loud boom boxes can be sited. d) Noise on military bases is thirty feet. e) Thomas amended the resolution to read thirty feet; Freed accepted. f) In some cases the complainant is asked to meet with the officer at a certain location. g)  Complainants may fear retaliation. h) The intent is to provide HPD with a license plate, car description, etc. for enforcement. I) The law must change and go to the prosecutor’s officer with guidelines. J) The resolution was amended adding all chiefs of police, councilmembers, prosecutors, and mayor’s island wide. The resolution was ADOPTED UNANIMOUSLY, 17-0-0 (AYE: D. Bass, W. Bass, Freed, Garan, Hamada, Imamura, Iuli, Kaanehe, Loomis, Marshall, Park, Remington, Siegel, Tsuneyoshi, Thomas, Wang, Poirier). Motion in Support of the Adoption of Mililani Waena Park – Kaanehe moved, seconded by Thomas in support of the Leeward Training Club to adopt and clean-up Mililani Waena Park. Discussion followed: a) There are only two parks that allow dog training. b) The City Department of Parks and Recreation has a program to adopt parks. The motion was ADOPTED UNANIMOUSLY, 17-0-0 (AYE: D. Bass, W. Bass, Freed, Garan, Hamada, Imamura, Iuli, Kaanehe, Loomis, Marshall, Park, Remington, Siegel, Tsuneyoshi, Thomas, Wang, Poirier). Announcements: - Next Meeting – The next Board meeting will be at the Mililani Recreation Center III, July 28, 2010 at 7:30 p.m. - Broadcast – Videotape of Board meeting are scheduled to be shown on `Olelo Channel 54, Sundays at Noon. Adjournment: The meeting adjourned at 9:16 p.m. Submitted by: Nola J. Frank, Neighborhood Assistant Reviewed by: Dick Poirier, Chair

You may have heard by now that Lt. Dan Choi was honorably discharged from the United States Army under the Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy.  Lt. Choi, fluent in Arabic, was serving as a linguist. 

Dan has also been an advocate for the LGBT community.  He was in Pittsburgh courtesy of the Delta Foundation in August 2009.  Most recently, he has been working with Get Equal to engage in civil disobedience, twice chaining himself to the White House fence while in full uniform.  His movement from fundraisers to political activism has been fascinating to watch and certainly parallels the failure of the Obama Administration (and the mighty gays) to repeal DADT. 

Even as the political will of the elite weakens, the will of activists like Choi grows. 

Still, discharge must have been a deeply painful moment.  It is certainly painful for the non-Arabic speaking soldiers who are now at even more of a disadvantage thanks to Obama's systemic policy of intolerance and discrimination.

In a powerful moment, Choi sent a letter to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid who was addressing the NetRoots Nation conference.  It contained his West Point ring which he sent as a pledge of his ongoing service to the United States, asking for it to be returned when DADT is repealed. 

Courtesy of Pam's House Blend, please read the words of an American patriot.

July 24, 2010

The Honorable Harry Reid, Senate Majority Leader:

 

Dear Harry:

My West Point ring has always symbolized an irrevocable promise: my commitment to serving America and my duty to defend freedom and justice. Today, with my discharge from the army for telling the truth, the ring takes on a new meaning, serving as a symbol for the enduring pain of broken promises.

America was founded on the principles of inalienable rights, equality, and the promise of justice for all. But today, Americans remain segregated from that promise.  Fired from our jobs, discriminated in the military, denied equal access to our own integrity and acknowledgement of our families, we cannot conclude that our country has manifested its own promise, over 230 years later.

You have also made personal promises to me that the senate would repeal military discrimination before the end of 2009. Indeed, you sent a letter to President Obama and Secretary Gates, claiming that was the most you could do to save my career. You promised to lead on repeal of discrimination. I believed your promise because you are the most powerful senator in America. Truly, no one can do more. The false hope of your promise has been made real to me today with another letter: the letter terminating my military service.

But I present this ring to you, symbolizing my promise as a fellow citizen: my service continues.

I promise I will hold you accountable to your obligations to lead in the effort to end discrimination, both in the workplace and in the military. My promise is not merely written on a piece of paper or words alone, but in the hearts of every lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender American fired from their jobs because of broken promises from those who purport to be our friends. History will judge us and conclude that the greatest obstacles to justice were not the loud rants of bigots, but the quiet fears of those unwilling to stand firm in the fulfillment of their commitments. I refuse to allow my friends register themselves in history as obstacles to justice.

I commit to you my renewed pledge and continued service. To you and all those “friends” who manipulate, deceive and exploit our community, I will serve as a reminder of the consequences we all pay when allegiance to political careers takes higher priority than allegiance to America’s promise.

 

Sincerely,

Lt. Dan Choi

US Army, Discharged under DADT

sdf

I am sitting at the GetEqual table for the Sen. Majority Leader Harry Reid's Q&A; session at Netroots Nation where we are breaking exclusive news on the Blend.

Dan Choi has delivered a letter to Sen Reid about his service and DADT -- and his West Point ring will be given to Reid today. Joan McCarter handed Reid letter and ring from Dan Choi:

July 24, 2010

The Honorable Harry Reid, Senate Majority Leader:

Dear Harry:

My West Point ring has always symbolized an irrevocable promise: my commitment to serving America and my duty to defend freedom and justice. Today, with my discharge from the army for telling the truth, the ring takes on a new meaning, serving as a symbol for the enduring pain of broken promises.

America was founded on the principles of inalienable rights, equality, and the promise of justice for all. But today, Americans remain segregated from that promise. Fired from our jobs, discriminated in the military, denied equal access to our own integrity and acknowledgement of our families, we cannot conclude that our country has manifested its own promise, over 230 years later.

You have also made personal promises to me that the senate would repeal military discrimination before the end of 2009. Indeed, you sent a letter to President Obama and Secretary Gates, claiming that was the most you could do to save my career. You promised to lead on repeal of discrimination. I believed your promise because you are the most powerful senator in America. Truly, no one can do more. The false hope of your promise has been made real to me today with another letter: the letter terminating my military service.

But I present this ring to you, symbolizing my promise as a fellow citizen: my service continues.

I promise I will hold you accountable to your obligations to lead in the effort to end discrimination, both in the workplace and in the military. My promise is not merely written on a piece of paper or words alone, but in the hearts of every lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender American fired from their jobs because of broken promises from those who purport to be our friends. History will judge us and conclude that the greatest obstacles to justice were not the loud rants of bigots, but the quiet fears of those unwilling to stand firm in the fulfillment of their commitments. I refuse to allow my friends register themselves in history as obstacles to justice.

I commit to you my renewed pledge and continued service. To you and all those "friends" who manipulate, deceive and exploit our community, I will serve as a reminder of the consequences we all pay when allegiance to political careers takes higher priority than allegiance to America's promise.

Sincerely,
Lt. Dan Choi
US Army, Discharged under DADT

Also, Senator Reid has delivered a letter to the President. A critical passage:

The Blend exclusive also includes these letters from Reid and Dan Choi's discharge paper...

Jon says reciting the Pledge of Allegiance gives students the chance to learn more about their country. Filed under: Audio, WBZ News Tagged: Jon Keller, keller at large, pledge of allegiance

Responding to a student’s fight to have the Pledge of Allegiance said at Arlington High School, a school board subcommittee has recommended the pledge be led every day so that it can be recited on a voluntary basis in every school.



Pledge of Allegiance - High school - United States - Arlington High School - Board of education

Responding to a student’s fight to have the Pledge of Allegiance said at Arlington High School, a school board subcommittee has recommended the pledge be led every day so that it can be recited on a voluntary basis in every school.



Pledge of Allegiance - High school - United States - Board of education - Arlington High School

Responding to a student’s fight to have the Pledge of Allegiance said at Arlington High School, a school board subcommittee has recommended the pledge be led every day so that it can be recited on a voluntary basis in every school.



Pledge of Allegiance - High school - United States - Arlington High School - Board of education

Responding to a student’s fight to have the Pledge of Allegiance said at Arlington High School, a school board subcommittee has recommended the pledge be led every day so that it can be recited on a voluntary basis in every school.



Pledge of Allegiance - High school - United States - Board of education - Arlington High School

Principals throughout Arlington Public Schools will ensure every student has opportunity to say the Pledge each school day if he or she desires.

[quote user="Voice of Many"] FN CRAP LOAD!!! SLIPKNOT WITH A DOUBLE CIRCLE PIT IN DENVER COLLISEUM ALONG WITH MUDVAYNE CHIMARA RAMSTIEN SYSTEM OF THE DOWN AND SKINLAB IN THE PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE TOUR 2001[/quote] br00tahl brah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! metal 4 lyfe dude!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1111!!!!!!

A prayer kicks off almost every Wichita City Council meeting. It’s called an “invocation,” but it’s nearly always a prayer — until today, when the invocation was instead a short speech centered on the separation of church and state.

Council member Sue Schlapp quickly blessed the meeting after the Pledge of Allegiance since the invocation didn’t. Debate ensued during the public comment period a few minutes later.

Read more

A prayer kicks off almost every Wichita City Council meeting. It’s called an “invocation,” but it’s nearly always a prayer — until today, when the invocation was instead a short speech centered on the separation of church and state. Council member Sue Schlapp quickly blessed the meeting after the Pledge of Allegiance since the invocation didn’t. [...]

 

When I first started homeschooling, I thought that it wasn't school unless it looked like school, felt like school and sounded like school. I sat the littles down (only four and two at the time) and pointed to the white board where we drew letters and pictures, said our Pledge of Allegiance and I marked my teacher assignment planner with attendance, checking off each hand-written preschool lesson. I even gave the kids a sticker for a well-done day and set up little school desks for them. We were by all appearances "doing school."

At first, it was fun and new for them, and Mom felt comfortable in her "in the box" public-educated roots ... passing on the legacy of a schoolroom education to her wee tots. It wasn't until the wonder of "doing school" wore off that the kids began to buck the system, and Mom began to burn out. The teacher lesson books all had to be weeded out because they were written for classrooms. The busy seat-work exhausted the kids before we could get to the real fun of projects, activities, dress-up play and reading aloud. [Fun is the key word there ... and I'm convinced that it is linked to your memory!]

Of all the workbooks and assignments we did in that early first year, we have no memories besides those of tears and whines to get up from the table. What we all remember well is the cuddling on the couch part -- reading children's books, taking field trips to libraries, parks, and the zoo and playing with our homeschool friends.

A wise woman at my church who had homeschooled teens came over for lunch one day to share some of her past experience with homeschooling over a slice of dill bread. She brought me a big book called KONOS that was full of unit studies on different topics and time periods. She urged me to stop the seat-work -- or at least cut it VERY short -- and dive into the fun learning activities in the book. I joined a KONOS email list online and met over a thousand other homeschool moms that were really enjoying learning alongside their kids and making the most amazing memories with them (the kind of learning that was going to really stick).

Towards the end of the school year, after gleaning a lot of great information on the e-loop, I connected with a lady named Kelly who lived about 40 minutes from me. Our kids were not far apart in age, and she was interested in doing the American Indian unit with me -- she had been doing KONOS a bit longer with success, and I needed some hand-holding.

That first full unit we did together as a "co-op" (i.e.: a group, albeit small with just two families) changed my whole idea of education. I suddenly emerged from the "box" and starting thinking outside of it for the first time.

I asked my tweens what they remember of that fun end-of-first-homeschool-year. Mind you, they are now 13 and 11 ... and they were only five and three when we did that unit. Still, here's what they said:

• Doing a rain dance with fake snakes in our mouth
• Going canoeing down a river
• Eating beef jerky and making pemmican
• Making maple-sugar candy and reading Little Runner of the Longhouse
• Making a Native American regional tribe map
• Reading books and giving an oral report on Northwest Coast and Iroquois Indians
• Building a totem pole out of appliance boxes and painting it
• Making a face mask
• Visiting an Indian gift store
• Painting our own Navaho rugs with designs
• Making turtle shell rattles
• Eating buffalo meat
• Dressing like Indians and having an Indian Feast and Artifact Display party
• Shooting bows and arrows
• Decorating a teepee built of PVC and tarp

Of course, we did more than these things, but they are the ones that stood out to the kids. Notice that only ONE of those things involves any kind of academic "sit down" work: reading. I realized those days that the kids could learn far more -- and remember far more -- that I thought possible for such little ones. The fact that they were so little and still remember so much of those early days is astounding. I can attest that I don't remember anything about daycare that I was taught (besides catching tadpoles in the yard, hide and seek in the play house loft, and the little boy who always drew on his sleeping mat at nap time ... and none of those things are academic, either).

So began our thrilling journey of homeschooling -- and my new adventure in using play (actively engaging the children's senses in learning) as my new tool to teach. We had many years of fun -- even with all our other distractions and pitfalls (we moved a lot, struggled financially, and our home flooded three times). Despite life's chaos, we learned. Even better than that, we bonded together, and I became more than a mom or teacher -- something better: a mentor and friend to my kids (the one they ran to when they were so excited and had to tell someone FIRST).

I wouldn't trade any amount of money in the world for the elementary years of homeschooling my kids. Even with all the missed luxuries and struggles, we have had to stay financially afloat. Good thing I love homeschooling, too, since we added another 20 years or so that we'll be doing it. When my kids were 12 and 10, we had our youngest boy, and we're on our way to having number four by next February. My big set will be 14 and 12 when their newest sibling gets here!

Here we go again! We like to joke that by the time we're done homeschooling, we'll be moving in to the nursing home and eating with dentures. It's all good. As long as the nursing home will let me continue to read picture books and play with my grandkids, I'll be right as rain.

I guess some of us just never grow up. Maybe that's the sum of homeschooling younger kids in a nutshell: remembering the wonder of being a child and the beauty of the human imagination.

There will be time for drilling grammar and learning the theories of physics later. For those elementary years, our family focuses on the POWER of PLAY.

 

Heather, aka Sprittibee, is a: Christian wife, homeschool mom, photo nut, native Texan, and blog enthusiast. Her ancient blog: Sprittibee.com has been trapping google-searchers for the past five years. Come enjoy the buzz! You can also find Sprittibee writing at The Homeschool Post (community homeschool site that hosts the annual Homeschool Blog Awards in the fall each year), Gathering Manna (her neglected recipe site), Heart of the Matter (she is a part-time author and conference speaker for their Online Magazine), Complete Organizing Solutions and curating amazing content for Blissreads.com.

Shabazz Palaces - Gunbeat Falls Eight times near the end of this song Ishmael Butler and a female vocalist sing, "The beat will always save us," like a pledge of allegiance and, at the end of those eight,… (in post Raight Chair from Molars. Download this at eMusic iTunes)

Rick Morrissey, Chicago Sun-Times
I remember when the enemy was the enemy. He was the guy on the other side of the court or the field or the ice. Couldn't miss him. Tail, horns, pitchfork. Hygiene issues. Athletes now pledge allegiance to shoe companies and wave the flag for agents. Rather than want to give the guy across the way an elbow he'll never forget, they want to give him a secret handshake.

Evangelicals Say Removal of 'Under God' in Pledge Ignores Faith's Role in U.S. History

Deep in the heart of the Bible Belt, a dispute over God and country is being waged very publicly.

It all started when an atheist group decided to remind people of the history of the Pledge of Allegiance by putting up six billboards around the state of North Carolina, in honor of the July Fourth holiday. One was placed even on Billy Graham Parkway in Charlotte.

The signs read "One nation indivisible," a reference to the Pledge of Allegiance but deliberately omitting the words "under God."

The billboards, paid for by the North Carolina Secular Association, a coalition of groups including the Western North Carolina Atheists, were intended to show that even Americans who don't believe in God can be patriotic and to promote a sense of unity.

The group points out that the words "under God" were not in the original pledge, which was written in 1892. Congress added them to the pledge in 1954 -- as America was locked in the Cold War with communist and atheist Russia.

Jennifer Lovejoy, a spokeswoman for the secular association, said including the words "under God" was discriminatory.

"I don't believe in God and I don't believe that our country was founded on Christianity or any religion," she said. "I'm not taking away anyone's belief in God. Many of our forefathers feared God, but I think they feared religion more -- and what it could do to the country if any one religion was allowed to be in control."

"Any religious reference excludes people and we're a government of the people, for the people and by the people," said Asheville City Councilmember Cecil Bothwell. Bothwell, a self-described "post-theist," was not involved in the campaign but supports the billboards.

In Asheville, N.C., where one of the billboards stands, the Rev. Ralph Sexton, pastor of Trinity Baptist Church, is fighting back -- with his own billboards and help from the church coalition We Still Pray.

Evangelicals Vs. Atheists in Billboard Battle Over Patriotic Pledge

"We felt we couldn't just look the other way," Sexton said. "It was important enough to stop and say that needs to be answered."

Sexton and We Still Pray, a group founded to support prayer in public schools, immediately responded with four digital billboards that bore the message: "One nation, under God."

"The biggest thing that bothered me as a person of faith was I thought, at best, it was disingenuous. ... Our very Constitution, our law system, everything is built upon the word of God," Sexton said.

Sexton disagreed with the assertion that having those words on U.S. currency and in the Pledge of Allegiance made atheists feel left out.

"It's political correctness gone amok. Silliness," he said.

Sexton's digital messages will remain for a month.

"We are a people of faith. We are a nation that is built on Christian principles and we need to make sure our children, our grandchildren, our teenagers, our young adults, know what we're really all about," he said.

The atheist group said it may put up more billboards in the future.

STORY LINK

Daniel replied to Loren Miller's discussion 'Billboard Battle in Bible Belt: One Nation 'Under God' or Not?' in the group Atheist News

North Carolina debate over the pledge of allegiance is being fought with signs.



Pledge of Allegiance - United States - North Carolina - God - Atheism

... asking why did the ole Colonel just cite the last sentence in the Pledge of Allegiance? Liberal Racism does not believe in One Nation under God . They believe in a Nation of subjects organized into collective groups under which they shall rule, not govern, in a secular humanist based society. Indivisible, Liberal Racism does not believe in “e pluribus unim”, they prefer a...

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TAXES

They reduce growth

I refute a guest opinion that disagrees that "taxes stunt economic growth."

When taxes are used to redistribute income, incentives to work, then saving and investing are undermined, which negatively affects the nation's economic progress.

The 1960s and 1980s were periods of record sustained high growth, mainly due to the tax cuts and reforms enacted at the beginning of each decade by Presidents John Kennedy and Ronald Reagan.

The prosperity of the Reagan-era was especially remarkable given the stagflation that was devastating the economy by the end of President Jimmy Carter's term.

Reagan's tax cuts spurred an investment boom, just like in the 1960's after the JFK tax cuts, which resulted in the longest peacetime expansion in history.

The experiences of the JFK and Reagan tax cuts show that a hands-off fiscal policy works best to stimulate economic growth.

In contrast, President Barack Obama's current policy of wasteful spending and deficits inevitably lead to stifling taxes and in turn, low investment and stagnation.

JOHN M. CLEGG

Ponte Vedra Beach

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ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS

Practical solutions

Our government has allowed illegal immigration, primarily from Mexico, to the point that we now have at least 11 million "undocumented" residents.

They include poor, hardworking families just seeking a better life, vicious drug dealers and thousands of jailed criminals.

Our existing laws seem to work well except for the Mexican border, so why talk about new "comprehensive" immigration laws?

Something must be done.

Why not start with a simple, direct concept?

- For those good folks who seek to make the United States their home and become citizens of our country, provide some kind of working permit with the opportunity to take, and pass, the normal requirements for citizenship and to pledge allegiance to the United States within, say, seven years.

- To stop the continuing flow across our borders, set a positive date of entry beyond which no accommodation of any kind may be allowed.

I suggest that date be Jan. 20 in a future year. Those arriving after that date would be summarily deported.

- Deport every illegal immigrant incarcerated in a U.S. jail with no option for future entry and search every vehicle crossing our borders.

- Probably we should increase allowable new immigrants, maybe double; but without exception, enforce our borders.

Perhaps there are better suggestions, but one thing is crystal clear.

It is downright criminal for our "leaders" to encourage illegal immigrants to enter our country simply to create large voter blocs,

ROY POOLEY

Jacksonville

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PUBLIC EMPLOYEES

Privileged class

Thanks for the well-written story on the "Political Money Gap." Our public compensation programs are unsustainable.

The tar baby of escalating public pensions and retirement packages would be of more interest and value for readers and taxpayers.

I would like tot see the same sort of comparisons between publicly funded retirement compensation and the private sector.

One need only look at the history of federal employee retirement packages and the gimmickry that is used to maximize the compensation basis to see how far off common sense we have strayed.

Congress has played a role here by catering to federal employee unions and by manipulating their own programs with impunity.

A senator qualifies for federal pension and benefits after only a single term.

So it's hardly a surprise that this gimmickry has filtered down to state, county and municipal levels.

Commissioners bow to muscular public unions with unbusinesslike contracts for short-term comfort, knowing that future commissioners will have to grapple with the problem. It all stinks!!

Here's hoping your paper can shed some light on where these practices have led us and how that relates to the fiscal agony Jacksonville and other local governments are now facing.

T. J. ROBERTSON

Amelia Island

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AFGHANISTAN

It's Obama's war

I cannot understand why the Republican establishment is so incensed with comments asserted by Republican Party Chairman Michael Steele. For several fundamental reasons, I agree that this Afghanistan war is now President Barack Obama's.

- Unlike President George W. Bush's decision to allow the military to do their job the best way they know, the Obama administration has imposed rules of engagement which are so absurd to the point of putting our troops in greater harm's way than need be.

- Unlike Bush's decision to engage the enemy with all the troops they need to keep the enemy on the run, the Obama administration has politically decided to give the commanders only a portion of the troops for the job.

- Unlike Bush's decision to allow the military to complete the mission at hand, the Obama administration has imposed a deadline which leaves us at a great disadvantage to win the war.

Something else Bush knew better than Obama, that it was better to draw our enemy into the cities split between the wide open desert areas of Iraq, than to have our enemy lead us into their treacherous mountains and abundant elusive caves of Afghanistan.

Yes, this is very much Obama's war and this is exactly what Steele was trying to assert.

LOUIS J. DEPETRIS

Jacksonville

In the context of the UN’s World Population Day (last July 11), several developing nations were quick to pledge allegiance to the eugenic deity. In the east-Indian state of Bihar, officials put out the announcement that: “The Bihar government will soon formulate a new population control policy. The policy will be framed in collaboration with the [...]

Arlington School officials will meet this week to discuss a controversial proposal to require that all Arlington students be given the opportunity to recite the Pledge of Allegiance at the start of school each day. The pledge hasn’t been said at Arlington High School for years. Last month Sean Harrington, a senior at the school, asked the School Committee to ...



Pledge of Allegiance - High school - United States - Student - Arlington High School

Arlington School officials will meet this week to discuss a controversial proposal to require that all Arlington students be given the opportunity to recite the Pledge of Allegiance at the start of school each day. The pledge hasn’t been said at Arlington High School for years. Last month Sean Harrington, a senior at the school, asked the School Committee to ...



Pledge of Allegiance - High school - United States - Student - Arlington High School

Arlington School officials will meet this week to discuss a controversial proposal to require that all Arlington students be given the opportunity to recite the Pledge of Allegiance at the start of school each day. The pledge hasn’t been said at Arlington High School for years. Last month Sean Harrington, a senior at the school, asked the School Committee to ...



Pledge of Allegiance - High school - United States - Student - Arlington High School

Debbie sent me this - great country protest song: Keep the Change If you see me hold my hand over my heart Before i start the pledge of allegiance There's a reason It's to honor those who died And if you see me close my eyes and bow my...

Activists say the legislation expected to be passed today is a means to keep families separated and purge non-Jewish residents.

Today, I realized that whenever I say the Pledge of Allegiance, I want to say "Thank you and have a nice day" at the end. Thank you public school, for teaching me the truth about brainwashing. MLIA.

Bride changed into a cocktail dress for her reception: 'I wanted to get my boogie on,' she tells People.
By Kara Warner

Carrie Underwood on the cover of <i>People</i>
Photo: Time Inc.

Country princess and onetime "American Idol" champ Carrie Underwood's wedding to Ottawa Senators center Mike Fisher graces the cover of People magazine this week and appears to have been every bit the fairy tale the bride envisioned for her big day.

Married Saturday on the lawn of Georgia's lavish Ritz-Carlton Reynolds Plantation Resort, the happy couple exchanged traditional vows in front of 250 guests. Underwood told People the one thing she worried about above all else was keeping it together throughout the ceremony.

"My sister told me if I feel like tearing up to say the Pledge of Allegiance," she said. "I must have said it 20 times that night!"

The proud groom, who met Underwood through mutual friends at one of her concerts in 2008, said his bride looked simply "stunning" (dressed in a specially designed Monique Lhuillier gown). "I was thanking God for her, for that moment," Fisher, 30, gushed. "It's something I'll never forget."

When the couple finally sealed their vows with a kiss, the only objector among the 250 guests was Underwood's plucky rat terrier, Ace, who responded to the otherwise-enthusiastic applause by barking. "We were laughing, everyone was laughing, and Ace was barking," Fisher said.

For the reception, which was decorated with an overwhelmingly feminine, pink-hued touch, guests received their seating assignments via painted hockey pucks with their names written on an attached card. And Underwood changed out of her "huge" wedding dress in favor of a strapless cocktail dress — which Monique Lhuillier also designed. "I wanted to get my boogie on, so I had to change," the 27-year-old told People.

"The night exceeded all the hopes I had," Underwood said. "It was a great party."

Share your well-wishes for the newlyweds in the comments below!

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(If every high-school principal gave this speech at the beginning of the next school year, America would be a better place.)

To the students and faculty of our high school:

I am your new principal, and honored to be so. There is no greater calling than to teach young people.

I would like to apprise you of some important changes coming to our school. I am making these changes because I am convinced that most of the ideas that have dominated public education in America have worked against you, against your teachers, and against our country.

#ad#First, this school will no longer honor race or ethnicity. I could not care less if your racial makeup is black, brown, red, yellow, or white. I could not care less if your origins are African, Latin American, Asian, or European, or if your ancestors arrived here on the Mayflower or on slave ships.

The only identity I care about, the only one this school will recognize, is your individual identity -- your character, your scholarship, your humanity. And the only national identity this school will care about is American. This is an American public school, and American public schools were created to make better Americans.

If you wish to affirm an ethnic, racial, or religious identity through school, you will have to go elsewhere. We will end all ethnicity-, race-, and non-American-nationality-based celebrations. They undermine the motto of America, one of its three central values -- e pluribus unum, “from many, one.” And this school will be guided by America’s values.

That includes all after-school clubs. I will not authorize clubs that divide students based on any identities. This includes race, language, religion, sexual orientation, or whatever else may become in vogue in a society divided by political correctness.

Your clubs will be based on interests and passions, not blood, ethnic, racial, or other physically defined ties. Those clubs just cultivate narcissism -- an unhealthy preoccupation with the self -- while the purpose of education is to get you to think beyond yourself. So we will have clubs that transport you to the wonders and glories of art, music, astronomy, languages you do not already speak, carpentry, and more. If the only extracurricular activities you can imagine being interested in are those based on ethnic or racial or sexual identity, that means that little outside of yourself really interests you.

Second, I am uninterested in whether English is your native language. My only interest in terms of language is that you leave this school speaking and writing English as fluently as possible. The English language has united America’s citizens for more than 200 years, and it will unite us at this school. It is one of the indispensible reasons this country of immigrants has always come to be one country. And if you leave this school without excellent English-language skills, I will have been remiss in my duty to ensure that you are prepared to compete successfully in the American job market. We will learn other languages here -- it is deplorable that most Americans only speak English -- but if you want classes taught in your native language rather than in English, this is not your school.

#page
Third, because I regard learning as a sacred endeavor, everything in this school will reflect learning’s elevated status. This means, among other things, that you and your teachers will dress accordingly. Many people in our society dress more formally for a meal at a nice restaurant than they do for church or school. These people have their priorities backwards. Therefore, there will be a formal dress code at this school.

Fourth, no obscene language will be tolerated anywhere on this school’s property -- whether in class, in the hallways, or at athletic events. If you can’t speak without using the F-word, you can’t speak. By obscene language I mean the words banned by the Federal Communications Commission plus epithets such as the N-word, even when used by one black student to address another, or “bitch,” even when addressed by a girl to a girlfriend. It is my intent that by the time you leave this school, you will be among the few of your age to distinguish instinctively between the elevated and the degraded, the holy and the obscene.

#ad#Fifth, we will end all self-esteem programs. In this school self-esteem will be attained in only one way (the way people attained it until the state of California decided otherwise a generation ago) -- by earning it. One immediate consequence is that there will be one valedictorian, not eight.

Sixth, and last, I am reorienting the school toward academics and away from politics and propaganda. No more time will be devoted to scaring you about smoking and caffeine, or terrifying you about sexual harassment or global warming. No more semesters will be devoted to condom-wearing and teaching you to regard sexual relations as only or primarily a health issue. There will be no more attempts to convince you that you are a victim because you are not white, or not male, or not heterosexual, or not Christian. We will have failed if any one of you graduates from this school and does not consider him or herself inordinately lucky -- to be alive and to be an American.

Now, please stand and join me in the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag of our country. As many of you do not know the words, your teachers will hand them out to you.

-- Dennis Prager is a nationally syndicated radio talk-show host and columnist. He may be contacted through his website, dennisprager.com.

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\Is it really befitting a believer to paint his face and drape himself in the flag of some nation in World Cup fever, or to stand for the Pledge of Allegiance, or sing a national anthem? Is there an obligation on the part of a citizen to serve and honor one's country?

World Cup fans in Kampala were a soft target for Somalian Islamists crying 'jihad' against countries supplying African Union peacekeepers

Ugandan police say they believe the double bombing in Kampala was the work of the Somalian group, al-Shabab. If this proves to be the case, it will mark an evolution in the movement's activities.

So far, al-Shabab, which means "the youth" in Arabic, has kept to a very local agenda, in deed if not always rhetoric. This has reflected its origins. The Harakat al-Shabab al-Mujahideen (the Union of Mujahideen Youth) is a splinter group from the Union of Islamic Courts (UIC), a coalition of Islamist groups that established control over much of Somalia. The UIC imposed a strict sharia-based code, which it saw as the solution to the poverty-stricken and war-racked country's many woes.

After being routed by the Ethiopian army at the end of 2006, the UIC broke up. The biggest remaining fragment was its armed wing or youth movement, al-Shabab.

In successive campaigns, al-Shabab, under the leadership of a group of senior clerics and "sheikhs", has taken over at least a third of Somalia, including most of Mogadishu, the capital. Now numbering several thousand, its expansion has been marked by two main trends: radicalisation and internationalisation.

The former has led to executions, amputations and patrols of young men who, in a manner reminiscent of the Taliban's religious police in the 1990s, seek out anyone in breach of strict, puritanical and increasingly arbitrary codes of behaviour. The internationalisation has meant a pledge of allegiance to al-Qaida's senior leadership as well as a number of foreign volunteers joining al-Shahab's ranks. These are primarily American but include some Britons, security sources say. Other links with militants in the Yemen appear to have been consolidated too.

There have been fears of Somalian Islamist militant groups – al-Shahab is not the only one – launching international attacks for some time.

If al-Shahab is responsible for the bombings in Uganda, the reasons are most likely to be local: Ugandan troops provide most of the 5,000 African Union peacekeepers who replaced Ethiopian troops when they pulled out last year and are the main reason Somalia's UN-backed government has not yet been entirely driven out of Mogadishu by the Islamists. Recent pledges to reinforce the peacekeepers have drawn threats of jihad from al-Shabab against any countries which send more troops.

Why attack people watching the World Cup? First, because they are a soft target. Second, because al-Shahab has already made clear it disapproves of the football, threatening players and fans with violence in Somalia. Here, the group is only following broader thought among jihadis. In a recent web posting, one extremist scholar said that watching the World Cup was un-Islamic as it involved gambling, competition, women being shown on TV, sinful behaviour by players, cursing among supporters and "unnecessary fun".

There are signs that al-Shabab is increasingly internally divided. The past 18 months have seen a number of high-profile figures quitting its ranks in disgust at the increasingly indiscriminate violence.

Some analysts believe growing extremism within radical movements is a sign of fierce competition among factions which can eventually lead to total fragmentation. Certainly, other radical groups which rejected local roots and agendas to become steadily more extreme and more international in their outlook – in Algeria and Egypt in the 1990s or in Iraq, Indonesia and Saudi Arabia more recently – suffered as a result, rapidly losing any popular support.

Thought for the day: it just occurred to me how incredibly ironic it is that, when the Pledge of Allegiance was changed in 1954, they actually put "under God" in between the words one nation and indivisible.

12 Vote(s)

Thought for the day: it just occurred to me how incredibly ironic it is that, when the Pledge of Allegiance was changed in 1954, they actually put "under God" in between the words one nation and indivisible.

Imagine eating lunch at a restaurant when suddenly, everyone around you stands up to say the Pledge of Allegiance. At one eatery in south Florida, it has become a daily ritual.

Last week, I posed the following challenge:

[T]he inevitable existence of some statistical discrimination doesn't make the practice immune to criticism.  You can grant that it's OK to some degree, but - even if the law is silent - still limited by ethics and/or etiquette.  But precisely what limitations do you think are justified, and why?

Many readers took the bait.  Here's my critique of the most interesting responses.

From Phil:

Perhaps if the variation within the group is much higher than the group difference from the mean, the benefit (the amount of error reduced by statistical discrimination multiplied by the cost of error) is much, much less than the cost...

But don't market forces already provide incentives to take within-group variation into account?  If half of employers act as if everyone of group X is average, that leaves remaining employees with plenty of cream to skim.  So is there any obligation to go beyond this market outcome?

From HispanicPundit (who doesn't "necessarily agree with these reasons"):

What about when it harms someone else? That seems like a fair limitation.

Statistical discrimination always harms people who are above average for their group, so on this theory statistical discrimination is never permissible.  Which is crazy for the reasons I gave in the original post.

If statistical discrimination leads me to give someone lower preference in an interview, for example, maybe I should give that person a deeper look to compensate for what could be my statistical error?

Statistical error is always possible, but it could go in either direction, so it's hard to see why compensation is typically in order.

Or how about, if it runs parallel to racial stereotypes. For obvious historical reasons.

Racial stereotyping is of course one common form of statistical discrimination.  But everyone uses racial stereotypes some of the time; even black taxi drivers hesitate to pick up groups of young black male passengers.  So blanket objections aren't plausible.

From Henry:

[T]he reasons for different standards mostly lack any philosophical depth and are instead post-hoc reactions to past injustices. We frown upon racial discrimination not necessarily because racial discrimination is currently worse than any other kind, but because of what it used to be like.

I tend to agree.  In signaling terms, people criticize statistical discrimination because they don't want people to think that they'd engage in taste-based discrimination.

From David O:

I would make a distinction between mutable and immutable characteristics. Then I would recognize a few of those are a little fuzzy because while these characteristics may be changeable, they are very difficult to change.

We should avoid discriminating based on truly immutable characteristics such as race, gender and sexual orientation.

But everyone statistically discriminates on the basis of immutable characteristics - when you prefer a female baby-sitter, market Maxim to men, speak Spanish to someone who looks Hispanic, etc.  In fact, it's often seen as rude not to statistically discriminate; for example, focusing on stereotypically male interests in a mixed-sex conversation.

David O adds:

I would also argue that from a political economy standpoint, libertarians should oppose statistical discrimination. The idea of equality of opportunity, that anyone from any background can become successful, is one of the best safeguards against redistributive socialism. Destroy it and watch how the politics becomes a discussion of class warfare.

The problem, though, is that market forces often strongly encourage statistical discrimination.   So libertarians have two choices: either join the popular chorus against it, but insist that it should still be legal; or argue that it should be legal because it isn't nearly as bad as it's perceived to be.  This might make markets less popular, as David suggests; but endorsing an ideal that markets will never meet seems counter-productive in the long-run.

From stephen:

It seems the "wrongness" of discrimination is inversely proportional to its usefulness. The more you know about the individual(s) the less you need statistics. It would be silly the assume someone is going to take on the average value of the population when you know they are in the 95th percentile, for instance.

From Oliver Beatson:

I think that discrimination is probably only unethical (if at all) when it is intentionally harmful.

Aren't both of these statements just another way of saying that taste-based discrimination is bad, but statistical discrimination is OK?

From Carlsson:

Statistical discrimination makes a lot of sense if rationally applied, but think of the data requirements in order to apply the theory correctly. You need a whole lot more than the means of two (or more) distributions, you'll need variances too, along with skewness. You'll need to be able to compute probabilities of Type I and II errors, obviously...

What most people call statistical discrimination is just the application of rules of thumb, based on little or no data. Prejudice is not statistics.

This strikes me as an unreasonably binary perspective.  In the real world, there's a continuum between careful actuarial analysis and pure prejudice.  And I'll bet (terms open to negotiation) that popular stereotypes correlate highly with higher-quality statistical work.

Philo gets closest to my own view:

Relying on statistical inference is not unethical; it is simply rational. But etiquette will sometimes require that we conceal some statistical inference we have made about someone from that person; we ought not needlessly to hurt other people's feelings.

Bad etiquette and bad ethics overlap.  It's rude and wrong to tell people they're ugly, even (especially?) when it's true.  The same goes for statistical discrimination.  In fact, there's a good case for a broader ethic of "Don't ask, don't tell."  It's rude and wrong to ask others if they think you're ugly - or whether they take statistics about your group into account when they decide how to treat you.

From John:

It's perfectly fine to discriminate. Rules of thumb are fine. Incorrect rules are fine. Prejudice is fine...

This seems to me to be the obvious position for any libertarian.

In North Carolina, Christians defaced an atheist billboard. These things happen; there are always a few jerks in any movement who'll go out and vandalize private property because they're so sure they're in the right that the laws don't apply to them. Normally, the organizations and the sane people behind the movement will repudiate such actions — if it had been a Christian billboard (and there are many of those, I can tell you) that had been defaced (which I have never seen happen), I'd be deploring the action myself.

Unfortunately, sane people are in short supply on the side of Christianity. They do have Chrissy Satterfield, though.

Just when I start believing there is no hope for our country I get a little reminder from my God that all is not lost. It was reported June 29 that a billboard sign sponsored by a North Carolina atheist organization had been vandalized. The ad reads, "One Nation Indivisible." It seems someone didn't think the sign was an accurate depiction of our Pledge of Allegiance, so the vandals inserted "Under God" with spray paint - and I couldn't be more relieved. It's nice to know that I am not alone in my beliefs and that some people are still willing to stand on the right side of truth.

Never would I encourage vandalism, but in this case I think I'll let it slide. Atheists have been vandalizing my beliefs for years, so it's about time the shoe was on the other foot. When asked about the vandalism, William Warren, the spokesman for Charlotte Atheists and Agnostics, said, "It was done by one or two people off on their own who decided their only recourse was vandalism rather than having a conversation." Hmm. That's interesting, because the Charlotte Atheists and Agnostics felt its only recourse was to deliberately insult those who understand the importance of "Under God." They probably figured that because the Bible teaches Christians to turn the other cheek, we'll just take their abuse forever. We will only take so much before we stand up against our oppressors. Besides, I can't count how many times an atheist and I have had a "conversation." They're not as calm and passive as Warren suggests.

Oh. "I'd never encourage vandalism, but <wink, wink> atheists deserve it."

The brain of Chrissy is a broken and frightening thing. The North Carolina billboard is about as mild as we can get — it's got a simple and even patriotic message about national union that simply uses a phrase from the pledge of allegiance, pointedly leaving out the 1950s addition of "under god". Chrissy characterizes this as "abuse", and that for someone to hold an opinion different from her own is "vandalizing her beliefs". The atheists have apparently been sticking a spray can nozzle up her nostrils and scrawling graffiti on her brain…which if you think about it, actually explains a lot.

The whole article is a self-righteous exercise in justifying vandalism and encouraging others to continue the practice. It represents a rather worrying escalation of the conflict to the incitement to violent action against property, all wrapped in cowardly weasel words to maintain implausible deniability.

I would like to extend my deepest thanks to the man or woman responsible for this vandalism. I appreciate the action you took. Thank you for reminding me that I'm not alone. It took a lot of guts to do what you did - and the fact that you haven't stepped forward to take credit makes you a hero. It shows everyone that you are more devoted to the message than you are to the spotlight. I encourage you to keep your cover. Don't give the secular world a reason to call your name; instead, let them call for our God.

I also need to extend a thank-you to some people in Sacramento and Detroit. In February, 10 atheist billboards were defaced in the Golden State and a slew of atheist bus ads were vandalized in Detroit. My dose of honesty this week: I am not happy that vandalism seems to be the only way to get an atheist's attention. I'm happy that I can count on other Christians to stand up for themselves and for Christians everywhere. It gives me hope.

We will not reciprocate. Atheists are not faceless cowards who skulk along and deface public property, and we're not going to call people who do such things "heroes". What gives me hope is that atheists will continue to simply stand up, quietly speak the truth, and be good citizens.

We'll let the Christians take the low road.

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The words "Coffee Party" don't even appear in the article!

In an effort to replicate the tea party's success, 170 liberal and civil rights groups are forming a coalition that they hope will match the movement's political energy and influence. They promise to "counter the tea party narrative" and help the progressive movement find its voice again after 18 months of floundering.

The large-scale attempt at liberal unity, dubbed "One Nation," will try to revive themes that energized the progressive grassroots two years ago. In a repurposing of Barack Obama's old campaign slogan, organizers are demanding "all the change" they voted for -- a poke at the White House.

First, that doesn't even sound like something that, if successful, would help the President. I think "Change, But Not So Much" would be more popular. Second, an awful lot of Americans hear "One Nation" and immediately — because of the Pledge of Allegiance — think "Under God," and that evokes a more conservative political ideology. But what really gets me is the Washington Post presenting this story as if it hadn't already been done before, with the once-hyped, now invisible Coffee Party movement. Maybe the MSM shouldn't just pass along PR about a hope-for new movement as if it's already something happening.

Now, to be fair, One Nation is different from the Coffee Party. The Coffee Party was an attempt to copy the grassroots approach of the Tea Party movement. Phony. But attempted. One Nation is a top-down effort. It's hard to see how it's much of anything at all other than a cry for attention.

If so, should we get rid of the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag?

To be sure, I ruffled a few feathers with my post "Should Christians Be Patriotic?" about the Fourth of July and evangelical patriotism.

My friend Ian shared the link on his facebook profile and got a variety of comments, including this one:
 

patriotism is a natural reaction of the thankfulness we have to the founders, soldiers, and keepers of this great country. Churches ought (and absolutely have the right) to express their gratefulness for their freedom by being patriotic.

And then on the opposing side was this comment: "Any zeal for a nation or political construct can dissipate the passion for the only Kingdom that matters. We need to be careful.

Of course, my favorite was this comment to Brian Russell's repost of the article link on his facebook:

i am sure he is glad to have the freedom to sit in his home in free America and have the freedom to blog whatever he thinks and do whaterver he wants...at what cost? some PATRIOTIC american(S) gave thier lives so he could enjoy not being too patriotic!

I guess I should have expected some blowback, but frankly, it caught me a little off-guard and made me question myself and my position. Was I being ungrateful? Or was I just not communicating well?

Just to set the record straight, I am grateful for living in America. I am beyond blessed to have the freedom to even ask the question of whether or not we Christians should be patriots. It's a privilege to even have this debate, and for that I cannot express my gratitude enough.

But I also have serious concerns about unchecked patriotism married with religious faith.

Singing patriotic songs in church, reciting the Pledge of Allegiance before a congregational prayer, and displaying the American flag next to the Cross are all examples of intertwining two things that don't necessarily go together. Moreover, they can be quite dangerous when seamlessly combined.

Recently, I came across an article that challenged my questioning of Christian patriotism called, "Why Christianity and July 4th May Be Compatible" on the God's Politics Blog. I don't follow Jim Wallis or Sojourners too closely, but I do appreciate their advocacy for faith intersecting with politics in an active way.

One takeaway from the article was this quote: "[O]ne cannot claim to truly love anything without acknowledging its weakness alongside its strengths." That really resonated with me and what I'm feeling right now. It's not so much disdain for America, as it is a hesitancy of blind patriotism that does not recognize the clear distinction between a worldly government and the kingdom of God.

What do you think? Is it true that you cannot love something without acknowledging its flaws?

The Montgomery City Council will meet at 5 p.m. Tuesday in the council chamber. Prayer by Councillor Jim Spear or guest Pledge of Allegiance Approval of June 15, 2010 Work Session Minutes Approval of June 15, 2010 Regular Council Meeting Minutes Mayor's Message Special Committee Reports Public Communications on Agenda Items OLD BUSINESS ...

If I had kids, this is exactly where I'd want to send them, to a school that decides it's not a good idea to have kids say the pledge of allegiance every day.

When Sean Harrington entered his freshman year at Arlington High School, he noticed something peculiar: There were no American flags in the classrooms, and no one recited the Pledge of Allegiance.

So Harrington enlisted the aid of his fellow students, and now, three years later, they have succeeded in getting flags installed in the classrooms. But the pledge still will not be recited.

The Arlington, Mass., school committee has rejected the 17-year-old's request to allow students to voluntarily recite the Pledge of Allegiance, because some educators are concerned that it would be hard to find teachers willing to recite it, according to a report in the Arlington Patch.

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The billboard features an American flag background and quotes the original phrase from the Pledge of Allegiance, before “under God” was inserted after “one nation,” in 1954. That was at the height of the Cold War and the addition was meant to distinguish the United States from the Soviet Union, which officially embraced atheism.

Set to be up for four weeks, the billboards – costing a total of $15,000 – are a July 4 project of the N.C. Secular Association, a coalition of groups such as Charlotte Atheists & Agnostics, the Ethical Humanist Society of the Triangle and Western North Carolina Atheists.

Their message: non-religious North Carolinians are patriots, too.

“We’re doing this to raise the consciousness of the people of North Carolina,” said Warren, 29, an electronic technician who served in the Marines from 1999-2004. “We want to let them know that not everybody here is religious. There are atheists in North Carolina and we expect to be recognized and treated like everybody else.”

The Pledge of Allegiance was penned in 1892 by a Baptist minister who left out any mention of religion. For generations, the Pledge has been recited by schoolchildren as they gazed at the American flag with their right hands over their hearts.

President Eisenhower signed the “under God” addition into law on Flag Day, June 14, 1954.

Over the years, the courts have been asked to rule on the constitutionality of the Pledge. Jehovah’s Witnesses, who swear loyalty to no other power but God, challenged the requirement that kids deliver the oath. And atheists have said that adding “under God” amounted to a violation of the constitutional ban on government endorsement of a particular religion.

“When the words ‘under God’ were inserted into the Pledge of Allegiance between ‘one nation’ and ‘indivisible,’ they made a lie out of both those ideals,” Joseph McDaniel Stewart, vice president of FreeThoughtAction and one of the N.C. coalition founders, said in an e-mail. “You can’t have an indivisible nation if you draw a line between the godly and godless. We all belong here.”

The billboard project is the latest sign that atheists – nationally and in North Carolina – are trying to boost their visibility and challenge conservative Christians in public forums. A recent series of assertive books by atheist authors such as Christopher Hitchens, Sam Harris and British biologist Richard Dawkins have climbed national bestseller lists.

And when Dawkins came to Charlotte this year to speak at Queens University, local atheists sponsored a fundraiser for the Richard Dawkins Foundation.

Warren said more than 600 people have signed up on his group’s Web site (www.charlotteatheists.com). And its monthly gatherings usually attract about 50 people.

The Charlotte-based Billy Graham Evangelistic Association declined to comment.

The Rev. Mark Harris, senior pastor at First Baptist Church in uptown Charlotte, said he was grateful that the local atheists’ financial resources “are so limited” that they could afford only one billboard here.

He called the decision to place that one on Billy Graham Parkway “at best, in poor taste and, at worst, a disgrace.”

Harris, who’s a leader in the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina, also quoted Psalm 33 – “Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord.”

“Anybody who looks at the United States or looks at countries like Great Britain, which have been governed by a succession of godly (officials), will see why I personally believe that that’s why these nations have been so blessed,” Harris added. “And any decline of Great Britain and America will be in step with a growing independence from God.”

http://www.thestate.com/2010/06/24/1348246/charlotte-atheist-groups-billboard.ht...

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